When Raw has a good showing three important things happen; angels start to sing, a unicorn sprouts fairy wings and begins to fly, and I get to write a happy Redux. Last night, Raw had a good showing, and I found myself incredibly excited to talk about the show, and write about it. So lets not waste anytime and get right to work.
Last night, we had a battle royal take place to determine the number contender to the Divas Championship which you all know is held by the lovely Kelly Kelly. It involved girls from both Raw and SmackDown and as far as Diva battle royals go, it wasn’t to shabby. Several things about the match surprised me so it deserves the label of ‘good.’
The Good
: I mentioned surprises and the ending wasn’t one of them. No one is really surprised Beth Phoenix pulled out the victory, are they? What surprised me about this match is that it was probably one of the longer battle royals the Divas have partaken in. The eliminations didn’t look cheaply done except for the fact Melina seemed to have sneezed and eliminated herself (not really, but you get the point). Despite the fact the thing was billed as every girl from Raw and SmackDown being involved, Maryse (my pick to win…) wasn’t a participant! She would reveal on Twitter the reasons for that later on in the night. The majority of the Divas were eliminated before the commercial break and their order of elimination was Melina, Gail Kim, Rosa Mendes (congrats on not being first, girl!), Kaitlyn, Tamina, AJ, and Natalya. The final five, Brie and Nikki Bella, Beth, Eve, and Alicia Fox continued to battle as Raw went to commercial break.I can’t really decide if the commercial break was a good or bad surprise, but the fact that all the girls were still in the ring when it returned was a great surprise. The Bellas were working over Beth, while Eve worked over Alicia. The twins had Beth close to elimination but the Glamazon was able to battle back and stay in the match. Alicia was on the brink of being eliminated but she was able to battle back and send Eve over the top. Eve landed on the apron and this is where I got confused. Something happened and all of a sudden Alicia was on the outside of the ring and Eve was still in the match. I’ve watched it a few times and it still doesn’t make sense, so who knows what happened there? Either way, Alicia got eliminated.
That left four girls in the ring, so Nikki turned her attention to Eve, while Brie fought with Beth. Nikki was able to get the better of Eve and dump her from the match, and while she celebrated, Beth scooped Brie up and brought her over to Nikki…
The Great: Yes, we are turning the ending of the match into the great portion of Raw and rightfully so. As I said, Beth carried Brie over to where Nikki was perched on the ropes and not heeding her sister’s screams, Nikki found herself scooped up as well in an amazing show of strength from Beth. Beth toyed with both Bellas on her shoulders for a second, giving the crowd and the announcers a chance to ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhhh’, and then she unceremoniously dumped them from the ring earning herself a shot at the Divas Championship come SummerSlam. Brie hit the floor first, followed by Nikki, and the bell rang for the end of the match.
Before we even move on, wow. Beth never ceases to amaze me with how beautiful and how strong she is. She started a hash tag on Twitter called Pin-up Strong and when it comes to her, I completely believe it. The Bellas elimination has to go down as one of the best Diva eliminations of all time and kudos to all of them for thinking that up. Loved it!
As for what happened afterwards, well that’s just the icing on the cake. Kelly left the commentary table, with her title, and went to congratulate Beth on her victory. The two girls embraced during the post-match celebration and once they pulled apart, Kelly stepped back and clapped for Beth. The Glamazon stared at her for a minute before seizing the moment, as well as the opportunity, to send a message. She grabbed Kelly and chucked her from the ring. Kelly tried to shake it it off and get to her feet, but Beth picked her up and literally tried to throw the blond champ through the guardrail. Kelly hit hard (no one can take an outside bump like this girl, good grief) and Beth went for a microphone. She walked back over to Kelly, dropped down beside her, and delivered a simple, yet effective message.
“Kelly, your days as the perky, cute, blond little bimbo are officially over.”
She dropped the microphone right on Kelly’s chest and her music hit. Beth walked off leaving the champ a sobbing, hurting mess. How amazing was that? Beth does her best work as a heel and I’ve personally loved her matches with Kelly in the past. Kelly is great as a babyface who can take a beating, and as seen on SmackDown, have a magical comeback. The match at SummerSlam has all the potential in the world to be great. Beth can have a great match with anyone. Kelly works very well against evil, uber heels. I don’t want to gush too much, but last night’s heel turn by Beth could be just what the Divas need. So excited!
And just when I thought the excitement of Raw was done, Vickie Guerrero comes out. And she’s given a microphone. Let’s take a look at what I’m dubbing ‘The Amazing’ part of Monday Night Raw.
The Amazing: Vickie is able to garner a ridiculous amount of heat simply from screaming ‘Excuse Me!’ She started off her promo with that and it just escalated from there. She was basically booed out of the building before she could make a valid point and it was amazing. She was finally able to introduce her man, the gorgeous and sexy United States Champion, Dolph Ziggler, and put him over as being better than both CM Punk and John Cena combined. The crowd didn’t agree. Dolph mentioned the challenge he made to the lockerroom last week at the conclusion of his match against Evan and said that no one can top his skills, his techniques, his talent, and his charisma. Vickie agreed. Before Mr. Gorgeous could continue, Alex Riley’s theme song hit and I freaked. Personally, I couldn’t handle the hotness of Dolph/Vickie/A-Ry on my television all at once. Alex had his own microphone and asked Dolph why he always had to hide behind a woman, or in this case, Vickie Guerrero. That comment alone angered Vickie and she snatched the mic from her client’s hand. Vickie, oozing attitude, ran down the list of everything she’s done for Dolph throughout his career and the former NXT rookie failed to look impressed. A-Ry climbed into the ring, looked at Vickie, and said ‘excuse me.’
Vickie wasn’t impressed by that!
Alex started talking again and said that Vickie did bring up a good point. Dolph truly has had a hell of a career up to this point but what A-Ry wanted to know is when the last time Dolph accomplished something on his own? What else is said truly doesn’t matter because they’re men. But what does matter is what this storyline could lead too. A-Ry basically challenged Dolph to drop Vickie, and if I get a chance to see a storyline featuring Alex Riley and Dolph Ziggler, my number four and two respectively favorite wrestlers, oh my God. I can’t even go there. Vickie is the perfect person to use if they wanted to keep Alex Riley’s roll going. The Miz did everything he could for the guy, who I believe is a future world champ, and now I can’t wait to see what Vickie and Dolph can do for him. This storyline is beautiful. And it’s not even really started yet.
From Beth to Kelly to Vickie, Raw was beautiful this week. I have no real complaints. I have no gripes and no coulda, woulda, shouldas. Last night I got to embrace my inner Diva fan and was completely happy with everything the girls got a chance to produce. Good luck topping Raw this week, SmackDown. I never thought I would ever write that!
Until next week… Cryssi out!
P.S. I swear that wasn’t me dressed in a fierce black jumpsuit acting out the Ziggler/Vickie/Riley segment while pretending to be Vickie. Ahem.
